Lying down on your back with your legs bent,
Heavy on your sacrum and your ribs and head supported Allow your body to settle down I invite you to take your awareness to your breath Breathing in through the nose and exhaling gently through the mouth Finding a steady rhythm A steady even pace Gently,
Softly and with ease Just being aware of your breath Notice your breath into your belly,
Feeling the rise and the fall And the sense of softening and letting go on your exhalation Feeling a sense of lightness on your inhale And a sense of release on the exhale as you let go We're going to take our attention to our rib cage and as we do so still invite the belly to rise and fall As you breathe in,
Can you breathe in to the back of your rib cage?
Feel the back of the ribs become heavier into the ground beneath you Feel the heaviness of your ribs Earth expansion of the lower ribs on your inhalation Keep breathing in and out On your inhale feel the back of the ribs expand and then this side of the ribs The front of the ribs and soften on your exhale So keep breathing a pace that suits you but draw your attention to each inhalation of expanding your rib cage From the back,
From the bottom,
From the side,
From the front And let it all go on your exhale allowing yourself to sigh out Take your awareness to the back of the ribs and the lower rib cage and as you breathe in sense the opening of the back of the lower ribs Drawing the diaphragm down And then start to feel the side of the ribs expanding wide and continuing the flow up through your breast bone to your first ribs And then soften from your first ribs back down Your sternum,
Your ribs,
Back to your floating ribs Almost seeing like a flower opening in bud Becoming fully alive and expansive And then allowing the softness like a draping silk cloth on your exhale Noticing if your rib cage becomes more mobile,
Whether your breath becomes more fulfilling Notice if your breath becomes more expansive Breathing in feeling the ribs open at the back and the base and widening round the sides to the front coming up the sternum and your first ribs And as you exhale like a silk scarf softening back down Just explore the shape of your rib cage Allow your jaw to relax And be curious with the movement,
Don't force anything Just explore Keep going with your visual Keep feeling,
Keep exploring,
Keep noticing Each lung is inside a thin sac called pleura As we inhale,
The diaphragm lowers,
Pulling down on the pleura and the lungs expand And as the rib cage expands outwards,
Backwards and forwards and upwards So does the pleura and so do the lungs have more room to expand in the thorax,
The rib cage So as you inhale,
Imagine the lungs expanding in all the available space that you create Feel the ribs expanding downwards,
Outwards,
Sideways and upwards and feel those lungs expand into those places Just notice,
Beware of your inhalation and beware of your exhalation How expansive can you make your lungs feel?
And with gentle exploration,
You may find you can improve your breath,
Gain more oxygen and nutrients and also improve your posture and thoracic mobility Be sure to relax your jaw as you focus on your breath And come in with a sense of curiosity We only know what we know And it's only when we're open and more receptive can we explore if there's more available to us And then just gently come back to your normal breath The more we practice embodiment,
The more we notice Where our attention and intention goes,
Our energy will flow When you feel ready,
Come back up to sitting and take a moment just to notice how you feel Notice if you feel more expansive in your ribs,
Notice if there's any ease of movement through your thoracic spine,
Through your shoulders and through your neck Thank you for choosing to breathe with me today Have a wonderful day
